


The Echo Of Your Silence

by BleuSarcelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, BAMF Lance (Voltron), BUT HE'S GETTING THE HANG OF IT, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Enemies to Friends, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith leaves because like....he's a tiny bit reckless at the begining, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance is sad but he got this shit under control, Light Angst, M/M, Post Season 3, Pre-Relationship, Right Hand Man Lance, Team Bonding, Team as Family, leader keith, to SOMETHING MORE LATER
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11805693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleuSarcelle/pseuds/BleuSarcelle
Summary: Lance stares unblinking at the empty hangar, where the Black Lion is supposed to be, and he wonders if he needs to start putting trackers on everyone on his team.He’s mad. Irrational and untamed anger boils inside him, deep in his stomach, faint empty promises from Keith filling his head, repeating themselves like a broken record over and over again and it only helps to fuel the fire inside him.‘Alright,’ was Keith's answer, soft and quiet but the meaningful power behind them bounced around them that night, ‘We’re a team, you’re right, no more rash decisions.’(The one where Keith leaves without a warning and the team is left behind without a leader once again and Lance takes it upon himself to hold on to the small family he has left, at least until Keith comes back, if he ever does.)





	The Echo Of Your Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Like, this fic was thought of three days ago? kinda? but nothing was planned....
> 
> AND TADAH! I DID THIS INSTEAD OF WORK. GO ME. 
> 
> Takes places after season 2 but like just before episode 3 of season 3, like, before Lance knocks some sense into Keith. 
> 
> Based on [this beautiful piece of art](http://afraea.tumblr.com/post/164081324051/yaaaaaay-suffering-i-love-lance-so-much-its-a) and made by [afraea](http://afraea.tumblr.com) !! Thank you again for giving me permission to write this! 
> 
> Disclaimer; Voltron doesn't belong to me and neither does the art.

The silence should have clued him in.

Should have, but it didn’t. 

Not when in the past few weeks, silence has been the only thing constant inside the castle’s walls. 

It’s not like the castle has never been silent, per se, because with only seven living forms occupying a big castle, there’s only so much noise one can make to fill the gap.

Maybe it’s because they didn’t noticed the silence before, because whenever you went, there would be noise; sometimes it came from the training room because Keith and Lance would be on their daily competition, or other times from Pidge’s hangar, the sound of fingers typing furiously against her keyboard, a few times from Hunk and Coran’s daily arguments about how to prepare the green goo, and other times the soft unusual laughter coming from Allura’s room would echo down the hall. 

And there have been a few times, Lance can count them with his fingers, when he had been passing by the common room and a soft humming would catch his attention. He remembers the first time that he saw Shiro, alone in the middle of the common room, tablet supported by his prosthetic while he hummed softly under his breath.

Lance didn’t recognized the song, but it didn’t really mattered at the time. If he was honest with himself, he was just glad he was able to see his leader, his  _ friend _ , at ease, no matter for how long it would last.

It lasted two weeks. Two weeks before everything crashed down on them and the humming disappeared abruptly from their days. 

Now, as Lance stares unblinking at the empty hangar, where the Black Lion is supposed to be, and he wonders if he needs to start putting trackers on everyone on his team.

He’s mad. Irrational and untamed anger boils inside him, deep in his stomach, faint empty promises from Keith filling his head, repeating themselves like a broken record over and over again and it only helps to fuel the fire inside him.

_ ‘You need to slow down,’ _ Lance remembers himself saying, one late night right under the Black Lion’s mighty presence,  _ ‘You’re not alone on this, Keith, let us help.’  _

He remembers the tense silence that followed right after, just like the sharp uneasy twist inside his stomach as he waited and waited for Keith’s answer, for some kind of recognition or acknowledgment that his words were heard.

_ ‘Alright,’ _ was his answer, soft and quiet but the meaningful power behind them bounced around them that night,  _ ‘We’re a team, you’re right, no more rash decisions.’ _

_ A team _ , Lance had repeated sadly in his head,  _ We’re a family, Keith, when are you going to realize that? _

But he didn’t push it, he couldn’t, because that’s not Keith’s way to do things and Lance knows that. He has accepted that since day one.

He just wishes he could have said it then, because maybe then Keith wouldn’t had felt the need to leave them like he did.

He stomps out of the hangar, ignoring the rest of the team's concerns as they make their way to the scene and he brushes away Hunk’s hand on his shoulder, mumbling something about going to the bridge and requiring Coran’s help to track down Black.

He doesn’t show up for dinner, instead, he stares at the lack of a black dot in their tracking radar and the sharp tug in his stomach makes a comeback. 

* * *

The fire inside him turns into ice and Lance doesn’t try to cover it.

He lets it guide him, pushing him through the day to fix the things he can with what he has. The entire team already had a meeting, early in the morning before breakfast and they agreed to stay in their spot, to just wait and hope for the best until Keith returned. 

Coran had pulled him aside, right after his three reminding fellow paladins left the room. Lance wonders if his newly found family is bound to dim slowly, one by one. He had suppressed the shiver that went down his spine at the thought and focused on Coran’s words.

_ ‘I know these past few days have been stressful, my boy, but we need to stay together more than ever,’ _ Coran had said, gentle and comforting,  _ ‘Don’t shut down, don’t turn off that spark that makes you you. You’re not alone, this is not something for you to fix, this is a family issue and we will fix it together, as a family.’ _

It was at that moment when Lance decided that anger was not going to be his driving emotion, and so, he had cried on Coran’s chest, allowing himself a few minutes of vulnerability before having to face reality once again. 

He visits the bridge again that night, eyes roaming all over the tracking radar hologram, in search for a familiar black dot or a flashing red dot on the corner of the dashboard, in hope of an incoming call of the sorts.

Nothing comes up and Lance pushes down the cold anger inside him. 

Instead, he feels sad and defeated, but none of that stops him from picking up every single member of his team at the moment and pulling them all inside his room, shouting about a must-necessary sleepover and team bonding.

The big gaps of the their two missing members is present, but they try their best to fill them in with light jokes and daydreams of future adventures.

It helps, a little, to ease his sadness but it doesn’t goes away. 

* * *

On the second day, they are attacked by a small galra fleet.

It had been a surprise, taking them off guard but not unprepared. The team is quick to get to their lions, armor in place and adrenaline filling their veins. 

Lance is able to take control of the situation with the help of Allura. They both managed to get together a quick plan of defense, just to buy themselves enough time so they can flee the scene without having the fleet to follow them. 

It takes them half a varga perhaps, maybe even less, but Coran’s able to set the coordinates in time and then they were out, leaving only broken galra ships behind.

It’s less than a tick, but Lance’s mind still lingers on that quick thought as the wormhole took them far away from their spot.

_ ‘Would Keith be able to find us?’  _

The sharp dry answered that came almost immediately makes him dizzy, so he decides to stay a little longer on Red, just to calm his thoughts and body.

_ ‘If he even wants to.’  _

It’s two vargas later when they decided to establish communication with the Blade, updating them on the past few events and arguing about their next move. 

Lance limits himself to nod along during the first half of the meeting, tracking radar on his wrist pulled up and only putting it down with a sigh when it doesn’t picks up any activity.

He rise from his seat and walks around until he’s standing besides Allura, back straight and eyes unwavering as he explain their next plan.

He doesn’t notice the subtle proud smiles of his team behind him. 

* * *

The third day is the heaviest and Lance can barely make his way to the bridge to start his most recent activity that has become part of this daily morning routine.

The plate of green goo that Hunk brought him earlier in the morning sits untouched at the edge of the dashboard as he types on the hologram keyboard. 

“Any luck, Pidge?” Lance mumbles quietly, spearing a quick glance towards the teen sitting next to his legs on the floor, his heart aching when he sees her rub her left eye tiredly, glasses forgotten on top of her disheveled hair. 

“Um, no. No sign of Keith, Black or...Shiro.” She sighs, suppressing a yawn before shaking her head to wake herself up.

Hunk and Allura left after lunch to make a quick patrol around the perimeter. Pidge wanted to join them, but Lance held her back, saying that he needed her on the bridge in case any sign of Keith or Shiro showed up.

In reality, Lance didn’t want her to move a lot. He’s not blind, he can see the big dark bags underneath her eyes and the way their amber color had turned slightly darker than usual. He knows she hasn’t been sleeping in the past few weeks since Shiro’s disappearance and he’s sure as hell that Keith bailing on them didn’t help. 

_ ‘I wanna stop losing people,’  _ she confessed quietly during their sleepover when everyone had been sleeping, ‘ _ I keep losing people I care about and no matter how much I look, I can’t find them...why, Lance?’ _

He didn’t had an answer, but he still enveloped her in a warm embrace, ignoring the soft sniffles muffled by his chest for her sake. 

Another ‘not-so-subtle’ yawm from Pidge makes his mouth to twitch in amusement before he sighs and turns the dashboard off.

“Alright,” he claps cheerfully, catching her attention, “Time for bed, milady.” 

Pidge frowns confused, “But -”

“Nope. No, no, nope. No butts, come here.” He doesn’t wait for her answer before he’s grabbing her by the armpits and throwing her over his shoulder, grinning playfully at her surprised yelp.

“Lance!” 

At the end, it only take Lance two stories from his childhood to have an sleeping Pidge pressed against his right side, breathing even and face featured peaceful.

It makes Lance’s heart to ache a little less. 

* * *

This time, it’s the silence that clues him in.

More than silence, it’s the sudden sharp tug inside him take makes him to almost trip on his own two feet. Lance steadies himself, eyebrows furrow together in confusion before his eyes widen and then he’s sprinting down the hall, heading towards the Black’s hangar. 

His entire vision is filled with black before a deep familiar red replaces it and suddenly -

“Lance?” 

He doesn't know when he had crossed the hangar, but then his hands are on Keith’s collar, bringing close with a tight grip, face twisted into a hard scowl. 

“You quiznaking jerk!” 

Keith looks bewildered, a light offended frown in his lips but nothing more other than confusing filling his face. If anything, it only makes Lance’s sudden anger to grow. 

Lance had hesitated the first time, thinking that to even mention that kind of topics with Keith  _ -teamwork, family, friends, feelings, something more  _ \- would be answered with arched skeptical eyebrows and uncomfortable stares, but now...

“You can’t just go off on your own without telling anyone, asshole!” 

Now, Lance doesn’t hold back. 

“Three days! Three quiznaking days, Keith, and you didn’t even had the decency to call? Not a single word! Not even a _ ‘I will be back _ ’, or ‘ _ Don’t worry’ _ , or at least a warning, Keith! You didn’t even gave me -  _ us  _ a warning! Just, what is  _ wrong  _ with you, man?” 

“Lance -”

“No!” Lance snaps, and he knows he’s stepping into dangerous territory, because he can feel the way his eyes sting and the way his hands shake against Keith’s armor, but his mouth has no filter and he has no patience left, “No! You don’t get to do that! I thought ..  _ Quiznak _ , Keith, I don’t even know what I was thinking! For all we knew you could have been dead and we wouldn’t - I wouldn't have - We couldn’t know! How are we supposed to survive, to  _ live _ , when people we care about keep leaving us behind?” 

He knows his voice is cracking, he doesn't need Keith’s wide surprised eyes to know, nor the way Keith’s hands raise but doesn't touch him, hesitation clear in his movements. 

“Do we really mean that little to you?” Lance whispers, shoulders dropping in defeat along with his head, no longer having the energy to stare up at Keith’s shocked stare, “Do we not matter?”

His breath hitches when two gloved hands cups his cheeks, careful and gentle, and they guide him up until he’s staring right back at Keith’s face.

Lance can feel his breath leaving him with a gasp when he notices the misty blanket over Keith’s dark blue eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith whispers quietly, voice low and broken, “I’m...I’m so sorry, Lance.” 

A wet sob escapes Lance’s lips and he’s falling forward, forehead pressed against Keith and he takes comfort on the familiar warmth it bring him.

“Don’t do that, Keith,” he whispers tiredly, “Don’t...please, just don’t push us away, we are  _ family _ .” 

The silence after that was expected, the reply, however, was not.

“I know,” Keith whispers back, sighing softly against Lance and the brunet’s unable to stop the shiver that runs down his spine, “Of course we are, I’m sorry. I know we are.” 

This time, Lance finally allows himself to sigh, a burden he didn’t know he had been carrying suddenly lifting from his shoulders and he can  _ breathe _ and it’s Keith’s smell that surrounds him, somehow soothing him enough to calm his erratic heart.

They stay like that for a few more ticks. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Here’s my tumblr, just in case: [bleusarcelle](http://bleusarcelle.tumblr.com)  
> AND my writing tumblr for small drabbles I don't post here: [bleusarcellewrites](http://bleusarcellewrites.tumblr.com)


End file.
